Urban Container Garden

"Sub-irrigated (sub-aerated) planters (SIPs) like this one are the PCs and laptops of personal urban food production. There is no need to plug them into tillable earth. They are portable. All that is needed is a small space with sufficient sunlight, be it on a rooftop, balcony, driveway, paved patio or even a fire escape. They will produce more food per square foot than in-ground gardening while conserving water and valuable time. This is safe food production with no exposure to contaminated city soil." Courtesy of Inside Urban Gardening

This is the statement that sold me on trying to build a SIP.  I'm going to include their directions as they are more informative than me.  The website is www.insideurbangreen.com

Drill a 1" hole in the side of your water tight plastic container

Recycled plastics (food containers, nursery flats) create the soil platform, soil wicks and water reservoir. Four milk containers are used here (about 2  gallon reservoir capacity). Cut large slots on the bottom side of the containers  to allow water entry and poke holes in the top side for aeration and drainage of any excess water. An overflow drain hole (top center) prevents over watering. Recycled water bottles create a fill tube.

 

 

You will need a drainage tube.  I used vinyl tubing found at 3/4" tubing found at Lowe's.  Connect the tube through a single container and out the 1" hole you drilled in your container.

In a single container, opposite your 1" drainage hole, insert a 2 litter bottle into one of your milk containers.  This is where you will water your plants.Do this and it will prevent soil from clogging the overflow drain hole. No connection is needed between the five bottles. The large slots cut in the bottom of the bottles (not shown) allow water to flow freely between them.

Container mix (NO top soil) packed down between the recycled plastics creates the soil wicking system. The water from the reservoirs will rise by capillary action creating a uniform distribution of water throughout the SIP. Simply pour water down the fill tube until you see some water exit the overflow drain hole (top center).

This is how your container should look before adding your plants.  You will water your plants by filling the water bottle until you see water run out of your drainage hole.

Add your plants. This picture includes celery and broccoli.

Celery and broccoli at 10 weeks growth.  You can see that I'm starting to get heads small heads of broccoli.  The celery will be ready to harvest in 6 weeks.

Life Goal #1 - Raise a Garden

My Container Garden

Tomato Plants- Planted on June 17th

Watermelon Plant - Planted on May 29th      

We moved into our home in May 2005 and for the last five years I have been trying to raise a garden in vein.  I've planted the garden in the ground. I've planted the garden in "pretty pottery". I've purchased every Topsy Turvey product on the market.  You know what I've gotten... TWO tomatoes and a whole bunch of dead plants.

Who doesn't want an abundance of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers?  As part of taking my life back and being a "good" mom, I decided that my first Goal  -- Raise A Garden.  Since my job is as a researcher, I spent many evenings and lunch breaks scouring the internet looking for how to raise a container garden and where I went wrong with my previous five gardens.

What seeds to use?  What soil to use?  How to water the plants? How to use as little precious time as possible?  How to involve my young child? How to make the most of limited space? How not to spend major $$$. 

Then I found the website, Inside Urban Green at www.insideurbangreen.com. What a fabulous site.  Their goal is to supply "modern methods for growing food, foliage or flowers for millions of us who are not green thumbs."  I learned that for less than $5, I could create SIPs - sub-irrigated planters.

I started my plants in April, starting with cabbage, lettuce, radishes, broccoli and celery. In May, I harvested lettuce and spinach.  There is something to be said about vegetables harvested fresh out of the garden, YUM!  In May, I added to my crops to included plum and cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, watermelon (at my son's request), cucumbers, jalapenos and squash.

The SIPs are producing 80% more vegetables than I would have gotten if I planted the plants in the ground.  My next post will give detailed instructions on how I created a SIP's container.

Pure Joy

Well it finally happened, the boy told me that he hated me. It only took four years, but I finally made it to the Mom Hall of Fame. Why does he hate me? Two words, fingernail trimming.

The boy hates having his fingernails trimmed.  I believe it stems from the fact that as a baby and toddler, I may have nipped his skin a couple of times.  While I was upset at the time, I freely admit that I did it.

The "I hate you" was rather out of the blue. After showering, the boy was sitting on my lap getting his toe nails clipped as they were long enough and sharp enough to cut the lawn.  He turned and looked at me with his honestly little face and said, "Mommy, I hate you," rather matter-of-fact.

My response was just as honest, "Okay, we'll I'm still going to cut your nails and I don't care." There it was tit-for-tat and I was smirking the entire time.  The one thing that neither of us figured on was Daddy.  Daddy was horrified. Poor boy lost his bedtime snack for about 10 minutes.  Daddy was devastated that the boy could say such a thing.  The boy was devastated that Daddy, the good guy, was mad at him.

In my head, the Ba-ha-ha had to be controlled or else it was going to slip-out of my mouth. So, I'm now in the club that my friends are extremely surprised took so long to get to.  One down, only 18 more years of, "I hate you" to go.

Easter Volcanoes

In my quest to be the perfect mother, I decided to attempt making giant Rice Krispie Treat Easter Eggs for my son to take to his preschool. The word is attempted. I managed to make Giant Easter Volcanoes.

Never, ever will I try to follow a recipe again that came in the coupon section of the newspaper. The irony, I work for a newspaper. The boy enjoyed watching is mother scream, "It's burning." while trying to shape the treats into eggs.  I had gooey rice krispies EVERYWHERE.  I finally gave up and shaped the treats to fit inside of 1-cup Pampered Chef bowls.  Once the Rice Krispies were molded, I melted white chocolate to cover the tops.

It's not the best, but the kids seemed to enjoy them. What else can you get covered in chocolate, cereal and marshmallow? Thankfully, there won't be another "kid-friendly" holiday until Halloween.  Ah, the things you go through to make your kid think, "you're the best mommy."

Here's to another notch in my Not-so-Perfect-Mommy belt.

Work

I work because I like it.  It's a breath of fresh air from the boy. Yes, I'm a bad mommy for saying so.  To those doubters, I say...Bite Me.  The thought of spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week with my 4 year-old makes me want to rip my hair out by the roots.  Hooray to those moms who can.  I'm just not built that way.

Do I feel guilty?  Of course, but I like adult conversation.  I also spent four years in college and $50,000.  It's best that I get a return on my and my parent's money. Does that make a me a bad person?  No, it tells me what my limits are.  My day care provider spent years learning how to teach young children.  She is better equipped to handle teaching my son early life lessons. Plus, he's learning social skills by being around other children. He's happy, I'm happy everybody is happy.

I think every parent makes the decisions that are best for them.  Parents choices are tough.  I don't want to walk in anyone shoes.  Mine are enough.

The Beginning

I’m guilty, guilty of feeling like a failure all the time.  How in the world is a woman supposed to balance being a wife, mother, maid, cook and have a full-time job? 

The Perfect Working Mother is a legend, an enigma.  You can't have it all without something suffering.  There are simply not enough hours in the day. I spend 90% of my time worrying that I'm not spending enough time or effort with my young son.My husband and house are neglected and I feel overwhelmed all the time.  At the end of the day, there's no time for me or anyone else.

So, I'm taking my life back.  I refuse to feel guilty because I work 40 hours a week. I refuse to feel guilty because my house looks like a tornado ripped through it.  And, I refuse to feel guilty for taking time for myself.

I have 43 things that I want to accomplish in the next five years both short term and long term goals.  Life's an adventure and it's time that I stop being miserable and start accomplishing something.